s lair. When the tiger finds that there is no way out on the land
side, he takes to the water to swim to some islet or to the other shore
of the lake, but before he is far out half a dozen canoes cut through
the water and surround him. The men are armed only with their oars. The
canoes can move much faster than the tiger, and one shoots quickly past
him, and the men in the bow push his head under water with their
oar-blades. Before the tiger has risen again the canoe is out of reach.
The tiger snorts and growls and puffs madly, but in a moment another
canoe is upon him and another oar thrusts him down deeper than before.
This time he has barely reached the surface before a third canoe glides
up, and his head is again shoved under water. Soon the tiger begins to
tire and to gasp for breath. He has no opportunity of using his fangs
and claws, and can only struggle for his life by swimming. Now the
first canoe has circled round again, and the man in the bow pushes the
tiger down with all his strength and holds him under water as long as he
can. This goes on until the tiger can struggle no longer and is drowned.
Then a rope is tied round his neck, and with much jubilation he is towed
to the shore.

The climate at Lop-nor is very different in winter and summer. In winter
the temperature falls to 22 deg. below zero, and rises in summer to 104
deg. Large variations like this always occur in the interior of the great
continents of the world, except in the heart of Africa, close to the
equator, where it is always warm. On the coasts the variation is
smaller, for the sea cools the air in summer and warms it in winter. In
the Lop-nor country the rivers and lakes are frozen hard in winter, but
in summer suffocating heat prevails. Men are tortured by great swarms of
gnats, and cattle are devoured by gadflies. It has even happened that
animals have been so seriously attacked by gadflies that they have died
from loss of blood. Fortunately, the flies come out only as long as the
sun is up, and therefore the animals are left in peace at night. During
the day horses and camels must be kept among the reeds, where the flies
do not come.

Incredible numbers of wild geese and ducks, swans and other swimming
birds breed at Lop-nor, and the open water is studded all over with
chattering birds. In late autumn they fly southwards through Tibet, and
in winter the lakes are quiet, with yellow reeds sticking up through the
ice.

WILD CAMELS